The week in travel: October 29-November 2, 2012

A hotel in North Korea that has taken 25 years to build is finally set to open
next year, and Beijing-based Koryo Tours got the first chance to look
around. It was in 1987 that the hotel was first launched with the grandiose
ambitions of creating the world's tallest tower.

Construction work ground to a halt in 1993, due to lack of funds following the
collapse of the Soviet Union, economic mismanagement and natural disasters.

More immediate concerns, such as the state's struggling economy and serious
food shortages, appeared to overshadow the project and the shell of the
hotel, which was once emblazoned across North Korean stamps, become an
increasingly criticised blot on the urban landscape, with the regime even
reportedly airbrushing it out of official shots.